From Surname to First Name :: A

Inspiration :: Arco

Surnames as first names are one of the biggest naming fashions at the moment. Think Mason and Sloane or Tierney. Some we forget that they were ever surnames like Donovan. But even with this trend, there are many undiscovered surnames that would fit in fine with the many children named Oliver and Joshua. Spanish and Italian surnames make great girly-girl names and there are many English and Scottish surnames which would create a fine name for a son. Another bonus to surname names is that they are not gender specific – which works very well for those who are conscious about stereotypical genders of names.

Below are some surnames beginning with A that are already in usage as first names but are still quite unusual:

Below are some surname beginning with A that are very rare for first names:

Abry     

Origin: French

Meaning: Shelter

Gender: Unisex

Unisex sounding with a hint of natural ruggedness. Doesn’t sound like a nickname but has the benefit of being short and simple. Could be used as an unusual alternative to Abby or as a diminutive of Abry.

Aliaga 

Origin: Spanish

Meaning: Person who lives in a place overgrown with gorse.   

Gender: Feminine

Feels like a merge of Agnes and Alana. Ali is familiar enough so that the exotic –aga ending doesn’t feel too weird.

Allegri 

Origin: Italian    

Meaning: Quick/lively  

Gender: Unisex

Allegro still feels stuck on sheet music. Allegra is starting to become popular for girls. Allegri has a historical yet fresh sounding, cheery feel.

               

Almeida             

Origin: Portuguese

Meaning: Place Name  

Gender: Feminine

A name that will fit in with popular girls’ names at the moment like Amelia but feels more distinctive. Alma or Mei could be good nicknames.

Alvey   

Origin: English  

Meaning: Form of Alfwy             

Gender: Unisex

Alvey does feel more like a nickname than a full name but some may argue that the extra ‘e’ makes it more substantial. It could be a good diminutive for Alfred.

               

Amiranda                                          

Origin: Spanish

Meaning: Woundrous/lovely

Gender: Feminine

This name seems to have so much strength but is also terrically feminine. She feels like a more unusual alternative to Matilda and of course Miranda. She also has the popular Am– prefix seen in name-nerd favourites Amabel and Amaryllis.

Antilla 

Origin: Finnish  

Meaning: Place Name  

Gender: Feminine         

A hint of Scandi fashion and the familiar three syllable, -a ending girls’ name style. The t adds strength and the An– prefix opens the door to many nickname options such as Annie.

Arco

Origin: Italian and Spanish          

Meaning: Bowmaker    

Gender: Masculine but could also be a brave choice for girls.

A mix of the trendy -o ending with an occupational name, a word name and a nod to the world of music. This name ticks so many boxes.

Ardes

Origin: Scottish

Meaning : Place Name 

Gender: Masculine but could also be a brave choice for girls.

This name feels like it would never stand out (but they would never be Ardes L or Ardes E in class because of its rarity)

               

Arrietta

Origin: Basque

Meaning: Place Name  

Gender: Feminine

If Arrietty is too ‘Borrower’ for you. A perkier alternative to Harriet I think.

Through the Decades :: 1 syllable, female

Inspiration :: Dawn

1 syllable names have been present throughout history - pretty, unfussy, usually nickname-proof and with less spelling and pronunciation problems, they are a popular choice for many parents.

Below is a chart showing all the one syllable names in the top 100 for each decade. The names are listed in their order of popularity. For example, you can see how Ann is the top 1 syllable name in 1860 and 1870 but by 1890, it is only the 4th most popular one syllable name for girls.

From 1860 to 1890, the names are those that we would call 'pretty but ordinary' today. Apart from Maud who now bears the weight of stigma, they are still used. Jane and Ann took the No. 1 spot whereas names like Grace were less popular. This has been reversed today - Grace is at No. 1 , Ann and Jane are not even in the top 1000 although they are still seen as plain and ordinary.

From 1914 to 1944, there was an influx of new 1 syllable names. We see a mix of the Victorian favourites with these new, 'modern' names like Jean, Jill, Joy and Joyce, J was definitely the initial letter in vogue. 1954 claims the longest list of 1 syllable names. Lynne, Lynn, Gail, Dawn and Kay entered the top 100 - the names we see as extremely dated today. 

After 1964, the number of 1 syllable names starts declining. Claire becomes the new popular name, Ann finally leaves the top 100. By 2004, many of the names are 1 syllable word names like Brooke, Jade and Faith. This is still the pattern we see today. Sky, Hope and Rae (the modern 1 syllable names) sit amongst old favourites from the 1800s like Kate, Grace, Ruth and May. I think that we will see another rise of 1 syllable names as we borrow even more words from other languages and if the nicknames culture continues. Maybe someday, even Maud will arrive back in our Birth Announcements.

Below are the 1 syllable names currently in the UK top 1000.

Name Style

Inspiration :: Caroline (painting by Caroline Ashwood)

We often discuss names using words such as ‘vintage’, ‘modern’ or ‘frilly’ when discussing names. People often describe their style as ‘old fashioned’, ‘arty’ or ‘unusual’. But most of these terms are highly subjective. When researching ‘classic’ names I found everything from Waldo and Wolfgang to Mary and Caroline and even greater number of variations on how people defined a ‘classic’ name. Some thought that all ‘old-fashioned’ names were classics and some ‘classics’ mentioned hadn’t ever entered the top 100.

This lead me to want to devise a system of categorising naming style. There are many quizzes you can do but they are often based on non-naming questions, have confusing categories and have highly subjective lists of names that ‘fit’ each category. I thought about the elements of a name that I could measure – a similar idea to shape, colour, texture etc. - the elements of art.

Names may first seem like a bundle of letters with the elements of phonology (sound) and length. Then you can research the meaning, the etymology (where the name came from and the components that make it up) and celebrity usage or cultural connotations. The third group of elements would look at its birth (when the name was first used), past popularity and current popularity.

My system takes the sound and length of the name and the past popularity of the name to create 16 main categories and 4 side categories (which I haven’t published on the page yet) of name style. I tried to pick elements that were easily quantifiable and that seem the main components of peoples’ favourite names lists. I classified the names according to sound and length and then looked at the point in which they peaked from the 1880s to the 2010s (using NameVoyager as it is the only tool to do this – even though it is based on the American charts). The downside of it is that, in a decade, the system will seem out of date but I am working on updating the system so that this will not matter.

Another problem I had was naming the categories. I had made sure that it was the same system for male and female names (unlike my first attempts) as we continue to see gender-bending and gender-equality as themes in today’s naming culture. I also did not want to make any category sound more positive or negative than any other (eg. if I had used the word ‘dated’ which has a negative connotation). The popularity labels were harder. I worked on the rule that an antique was something older than 100 years and vintage meant that something was older than 50 years. Retro has many meanings but it sounded much better than the ‘early modern’ label that was originally for the ‘retro’ category. The current popularity labels are not really part of the system but I thought it would be useful for those who would prefer a more popular or less popular name.

So if you would like to look for names that are similar in style, visit the ‘Name Style’ page. I have sorted all of the names from the UK top 1000 2014 and am now sorting names not in the top 1000. You should find an explanation of the category names also.

New Names

Inspiration: Mariposa (the Spanish word for butterfly)

I study the English language as part of my education and I am realising parallels between this and the world of names. I have been studying neologisms (new words) and how they are created and I thought I might pick out a few processes that apply to names as well as words. I highlighted the problem of how to create new names in my posts on the journeys of andrognous names and this may start explaining this.

Loan Words
Or should we call them 'loan names'? These are names we borrow from different languages. Think of Eleni, Giovanna, Xavier or Matthias. Many names are loan names but have become so mainstream that we have forgotten this. Henry comes from the French name Henri but has gone through a slight orthographical change (a change in spelling). Many diminutives-turned-standalone-names like Bella or Lottie were originally loan names. You can find loan words of your own by browsing the top 100 lists from other countries. It is very useful if you can understand enough of a foreign language to pick out names from international baby naming forums because you can find some hidden gems that speakers of English have never heard before.

Here are some beautiful names I found from the Turkish top 100 in 2012:
Zehra, Meryem, Rabia, Esma, Ceylin, Esila, Miray, Aylin.
Eren, Ismail, Kaan, Berkay, Ensar, Onur.


Compounding
Compound words are made up of two other words. Like wind+mill= windmill, Annabelle, Annmarie or Marybeth are compound names. Some names can seem like they are compounds but are just normal names. Elizabeth seems to come from Eliza and Beth but I think they have only become standalone names after being used as nicknames. Liliana is another example. Lil is a name. Liana is a name. But Liliana is not a compound name.

Here are some plausible compound names:
Maudlily, Liluna, Islamy, Leahlina, Evelisa, Elizabella.


Conversion
Usually conversion is where a word changes its grammatical function such as changing from a noun into a verb. Just think of how we use Google as verb (like 'I'm just going to Google this') But maybe conversion in names is little different. Maybe conversion means changing from what we think of as a 'word' into a 'name'. Word names have become very popular. Flower and jewel names (like Pearl and Rose) were popular historically but recently we have been picking from a wider vocabulary especially in celebrity culture. We have North, Saint, Ever and Apple. We often combine loan names and word names (use word names in different languages) like Soleil or Beau. If a word has a desirable meaning (such as love or beauty or happiness) then it is more likely to become popular.

Here are some words from Spanish that could become names:
Vivir, Almendra, Milagro, Mariposa, Lluvia.


Affixation
Affixes are collections of letters that are added onto the beginning or end of a word. Like 'Dis-' can be added to make 'disrespectful', 'disallow' or 'dishonest'. Sometimes affixes can get confused with compounding as they are very similar.  The line between affixation and compounding seems to be quite blurred in the world of names.

Some affixes include -anna, -bel, -lyn and -a. It is harder to find prefixes like Leo- (as in Leonore or Leocadia) but they do exist. Marilyn, Caitlyn and Jocelyn are good examples of the use of an affix.


Blending
Many of the processes I have explained are more relevant to frilly, elaborate girls' names but blending is definitely also for the boys. Think Aiden, Kayden, Jaden, Hayden. Think... Blending is all about changing a very small part of an existing name. Of course, some blends sound better than others. From Taylor, you could have Naylor, Saylor or even Haylor. But when I use Traylor, it sounds awfully like 'trailer' and Jaylor sounds awfully like 'jailer'. You have to be very careful!

Here are some blended names that might be usable:
Mackson (from Jackson), Trentley (from Bentley), Browan (from Rowan)